


Maintaining a Lie (Is Easier when There's Fries)

by SleepySsnail



Series: Moonlighting with the Piper [3]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Barry Allen & Cisco Ramon Friendship, Can be read standalone, Crushes, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Humor, McDonald's, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Science Bros, Secrets, Tags Are Hard, mentioned vigilantism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:28:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26839735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepySsnail/pseuds/SleepySsnail
Summary: “So Iris has been writing about the Pied Piper,” Barry said, dipping a few fries into a pile of ketchup.“She’s branching out into other vigilantes? That’s cool.”“I guess,” Barry said as he unwrapped his burger, a hint of jealousy in his tone. “It’s just weird hearing people talk about the Piper instead of the Flash.”Staying late to work on additions to Hartley’s Pied Piper outfit without prying eyes was something Cisco had been looking forward to. The only thing he didn’t expect was to have an impromptu heart to heart with Barry over McDonald’s in the middle of the night. Still, getting to just chat with Barry was fun, especially when free food was involved.
Relationships: Barry Allen & Cisco Ramon, Barry Allen/Eddie Thawne (Mentioned)
Series: Moonlighting with the Piper [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1932730
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	Maintaining a Lie (Is Easier when There's Fries)

**Author's Note:**

> I had a craving for junk food while I was writing this.

“How was that?” Barry asked as he sped into the cortex, sending papers flying. “Better?”

“Oh absolutely,” Cisco said as dryly as he could, “That’s the last time I’ll ask you to pick up the pace.”

Pausing in what he was doing, Cisco locked eyes with Barry before laughter bubbled out from both of them. Whenever someone said anything related to Barry’s powers, the speedster took it as a personal challenge to turn it into some kind of a joke or just a way to make someone laugh.

“I think I’m gonna run a few laps around the building,” Barry said, still beaming from the nights victory. “You wanna grab something after?”

“I dunno,” Cisco said as he leaned back in his seat, “You buying?”

Rolling his eyes Barry pointed a gloved finger at Cisco and said, “This time it’s on me. You in?”

Biting down on his lip as he thought for a moment, Cisco shook his head. “Not tonight man. I got a couple things I wanna finish up here.”

“You sure?” Barry asked, swinging his arms back and forth, “I can pick you something up.”

“No, I’m good,” Cisco said, offering a smile. “See you tomorrow? Dr. Wells wants to run some endurance tests with Caitlin.”

“Absolutely,” Barry nodded, a smile appearing on his face, “See you later Cisco.”

Blinking as a flash of light signaled Barry’s departure, Cisco sighed and waited a few moments before leaning over to grab his bag off the chair Caitlin normally occupied. Aside from Cisco and Barry, nobody else was at the labs. Caitlin went home early and Dr. Wells turned in after deciding that there was far too little metahuman activity to warrant his staying any later. Barry hadn’t even been at the labs that day, which gave Cisco a rare opportunity to work alone.

Up until now, Cisco had been careful about keeping any of his Pied Piper related technology away from the Flash and STAR Labs, but he had come across a snag that the machinery at the labs could easily fix. Technically a few hours working by hand would’ve remedied the problem with the protective polymer lining Cisco was developing for the interior of Hartley’s hoodie, but using the lab equipment was far too tempting to pass up. Things had been going well until Cisco got an alert that there were two issues going on downtown that required the Flash’s attention.

Cisco barely had time to stuff the materials he was using into his bag and log into the computers to monitor what was happening before Barry sped by to change into the Flash suit and jump into action. It was nerve-wracking to know Cisco had been so close to Barry of all people finding out he was in cahoots with Piper and his somewhat illegal activity.

Shaking the memory of almost getting caught out of his head, Cisco focused on the material partially sticking out of his bag. Running a finger over the durable but flexible material, Cisco was content with how it turned out and decided he could complete the rest of the additions for the Piper jacket back home instead of risking another encounter at the labs. If Hartley only knew the lengths he was going to in an attempt to keep things on the down low-

“Here we go!” Barry grinned as he stopped abruptly in front of the console, sending a few loose papers flying and making Cisco jump. “Big Belly Burger and Taco Galaxy were closed, but McDonalds came through!”

“God Barry!” Cisco yelled, startled by Barry’s sudden appearance. Quickly stuffing the black material back into his bag and closing it with fumbling hands, Cisco asked, “What the hell? I thought you were going home?”

“Changed my mind,” Barry grinned, holding out a paper bag with the McDonald’s logo. “Thought we could use some bro time.”

Taking the bag offered him, Cisco glanced inside while saying, “Don’t scare me like that.”

“Sorry,” Barry said, an apologetic smile forming on his face. “I think I got your order right, and I got all the sauces.”

“I take it back,” Cisco joked as Barry placed napkins and the sauces on the console. “You can scare me all you want if you bring me food.”

Laughing at the comment Barry sat down next to Cisco, the backpack with the new toys for Hartley pushed against the wall and out of the way. Tearing into the chicken nuggets Barry acquired for him, Cisco wrinkled his nose at how Barry was still wearing the Flash suit. It was one thing to eat in it using utensils, but sauces and French fry grease wasn’t something Cisco wanted to clean by hand.

“What?” Barry asked, looking down at himself and realizing what Cisco was looking at. “Oh. Gimme a sec.”

“Yeah, don’t get ketchup on my suit,” Cisco said, holding things down against the whirlwind of motion that was Barry changing.

“Better?” Barry asked, spreading his arms to show off his jeans and shirt.

“Anything’s better than getting my suit dirty,” Cisco said through a mouthful of food.

Snickering at how possessive Cisco was over the suit, Barry began to organize the different sauces between them. Dipping a few fries into a pile of ketchup Barry said, “So Iris has been writing about the Pied Piper.”

“She’s branching out into other vigilantes? That’s cool.”

To hear Iris talk or write about anything or anyone other than the Flash was nothing short of a miracle. Even her somewhat messy blog entries about the Burning Man were more interesting than another outsider’s view on the Flash's activities. Not to mention, it meant Barry didn’t feel as pressured to meet up with her to provide her with content and potentially let his identity slip.

“I guess,” Barry said as he unwrapped his burger, a hint of jealousy in his tone. “It’s just weird hearing people talk about the Piper instead of the Flash.”

Barry was right about that. It had been strange hearing more than one person mention Hartley's persona, prompting Cisco to check in on Iris’ blog to read what she had written about Piper. It was a bit underwhelming considering Hartley didn’t engage in as many high speed chases or thwart as many robberies as the Flash did, but it wasn't bad. Those articles read more like an essay than anything else.

But Barry hated talking about Piper. Whenever the two of them had anything close to a run in on the streets, Barry would rant about it for at least half an hour afterwards, going on about how the Piper got in his way. If Cisco didn’t know better, he’d think Barry was threatened by Piper’s presence. But that was a ridiculous notion, and Cisco could only laugh at the thought.

“Barry,” Cisco said with a small smirk as he dipped an oddly shaped chicken nugget into his ketchup. “Are you jealous of the Piper?”

Cisco watched with growing amusement as several things happened. Aside from his face turning bright red and his expression screwing up, Barry began to sputter out denials. It was funny hearing Barry try to come up with a coherent answer, and Cisco couldn’t help but grin as his friend dug himself into a hole.

“Jealous of Piper? No way man, why’d you think that? I just don’t like hearing Iris talk about him like he’s the next best thing. I mean, he commits _crimes_. And who even wears lace up boots these days? Why’d I be jealous of that?”

“I dunno,” Cisco speculated, keeping an eye on Barry, “That all sounds like you’re jealous. Or are you harboring a secret crush?”

Putting a hand down on the console, Barry said firmly, “I do not have a crush on Piper. I hate the guy. He keeps getting in my way.”

“Oh yeah, the two times you ran into him he caused _such_ a commotion.”

“It was three,” Barry corrected as he slumped back in his seat, his burger abandoned on the console. “I just don’t see what’s so important about him. Even Eddie thinks he’s worth talking about.”

Ah. There it was. The real reason Barry was so unhappy with the Pied Piper’s newfound attention. Everyone with eyes could see that Barry was holding back a crush on the detective, and vice versa. Even Joe was aware of it, going so far as to state that he didn’t need his kid getting involved with his partner. Knowing Eddie was reading Iris’ posts about the Piper instead of the Flash was probably driving Barry nuts.

Shrugging at the comment, Cisco said, “Don’t worry about it. Something else will come up and the Flash will be the only thing anyone will talk about again.”

“Yeah,” Barry said, staring at his burger before repeating more confidently, “Yeah! You’re probably right.”

“Probably? When have I been wrong?” Cisco asked, only to realize the mistake of his question. Waving his hand at the same time he shook his head, Cisco stated, “Last week in the breaker room doesn’t count. Or that time I tried to give you directions from the interstate. Forget that ever happened.”

Snickering at Cisco’s referenced mistakes, Barry began to chatter on about something at the CCPD and how he wasn’t sure if there was metahuman abilities involved yet. Relaxing as Barry filled the space between them with easy conversation, Cisco focused on what Barry was saying and how he could potentially help. If Hartley was willing to look into the different instances Barry was talking about, Cisco could probably narrow down the list of potential suspects for the CCPD.

Swallowing hard as he remembered how Hartley sincerely trusted Cisco with keeping his involvement with the Pied Piper a secret, Cisco turned his attention back down to his remaining chicken nuggets. It was one thing to look into things for Barry on his own, but Cisco hadn’t considered including Hartley before. But the chances of him agreeing to assist Cisco were slim to none. Hartley was open to working different jobs and cases that could help people get the justice they deserved from many different types of people, including going over the heads of the police almost every job. There was no telling if he’d be willing to cooperate with just investigating for Cisco to turn the results over to Joe and Barry, especially when the police didn’t exactly shine a good light on his vigilantism.

“Hey,” Barry said, cutting into Cisco’s thoughts, “You okay?”

Noticing the worried look on his friend’s face, Cisco forced a smile that was a little wider than normal. “Yeah. Just zoned out for a minute.”

Unconvinced, Barry nudged his remaining fries over to Cisco and said, “You say that but you've been distant recently. You know you can talk to me, right? If you’re going through something, I won’t tell anyone.”

Letting out a heavy breath at Barry’s kindness, Cisco took the fries offered him saying, “I’m fine, really it’s nothing.”

Barry narrowed his eyes like he was trying to figure out what was wrong just by looking at Cisco. “If something’s happened or someone’s threatening you, you know you can tell us, right?”

"No one’s threatening me,” Cisco snorted, amused at the prospect of someone finding him worth their time to harass. “Everything’s fine, better than fine actually.”

“Then why have you been so out of it recently?” Barry asked, confusion flickering across his features. 

Glancing down at a chicken nugget shaped like Florida, Cisco shrugged and said, “It’s not my thing to share. If it were, you’d be the first person I’d tell, honest.”

That was the truth. Barry was the closest thing Cisco ever had to a best friend. If there was one person he trusted to come through for him, it was Barry. Even after everything that went down with the cold gun and Leonard Snart, Cisco believed Barry would be there for him when the time came.

Concern filled Barry’s voice as he stated, “Secrets are really had to keep. Take it from someone trying to keep his sister from finding out he’s the metahuman she’s been blogging about.”

Raising an eyebrow, Cisco asked with a small smile, “Did you just summarize your whole problem with keeping your identity a secret from Iris in the third person?”

Pointing an accusatory finger at Cisco, Barry said, “Oh now it’s weird to talk in the third person. You did it last week and it wasn’t weird, but it is when I do it?”

“You sound like your narrating someone’s life story,” Cisco snickered, smiling wide at how easily Barry brightened the room.

Lightly punching Cisco’s shoulder, Barry flicked a fry at him saying, “Call it practice for when I read your autobiography.”

“Never gonna happen,” Cisco chuckled, smiling at the thought.

“Oh it will,” Barry insisted, scooting his chair closer, “I’ll even voice the audiobook. I can see it now.” Spreading his hands out in front of him like he was reading a sign, Barry recited, “‘Cisco Ramon: Genius Engineer, Master of T-shirt References, and the Brains Behind Everything.’ It’s gonna be a hit.”

“In your dreams,” Cisco snickered, elbowing Barry in the ribs.

“Do you really wanna pick a fight with the guy who can move at super speed?”

“I dunno,” Cisco said speculatively, giving Barry a look of mischief. “Do you really wanna retaliate against the guy who designs and washes the suit you wear?”

“You...have a point,” Barry said hesitantly, like he was really thinking about what Cisco could do to the suit in retaliation.

Grinning at the look of resignation on Barry’s face, Cisco bit into a few fries saying, “Hell yeah I do. Hey, I’ll trade you a few nuggets for some of your burger.”

“Deal.”

**Author's Note:**

> Because I'm a sucker for thallen and this is canon divergent, I figured I'd just roll with it. Iris is more of a sister figure to Barry in this and she never dated Eddie, they're great friends but aren't romantically inclined towards each other. Barry and Eddie are practically head over heels for each other, but that'll be addressed later. Hope you guys enjoyed this!


End file.
